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Sunday, July 10, 2016

Lars P. Syll — How Richard Posner became a Keynesian

The take-away:

Economists may have forgotten The General Theory and moved on, but economics has not outgrown it, or the informal mode of argument that it exemplifies, which can illuminate nooks and crannies that are closed to mathematics.

This is why informal and institutional approaches to economics must be included in economic methodology rather than being excluded or marginalized.

As lawyer, law professor judge, influential jurist and pragmatist legal philosopher, it is rather surprising that Posner took at long as he did to realize this rather obvious point: Choose the tool to fit the job.